Last year, California’s Governor signed Senate Bill (SB) 553, which requires all employers to establish, implement, and maintain an effective Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP). The law takes effect on July 1, 2024. Cal/OSHA is responsible for enforcing the requirements of SB 553, now codified at California Labor Code Section 6401.9.

Last Friday

Last week, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board approved an emergency temporary standard regarding respirable crystalline silica (RCS). The standard will take effect December 29, 2023.

The emergency temporary standard (ETS)comes after the California Department of Public Health issued an alert in November of worker deaths due to silicosis, which is caused by silica dust entering

As the temperatures cool outside, the regulations for indoor heat illness prevention are heating up. Cal/OSHA has been working on a proposed Indoor Heat Illness Prevention Standard since 2017. In the spring Cal/OSHA Standards Board published a draft standard and announced a public hearing on Heat Illness Prevention in Indoor Places of Employment.

On November 9, 2023

Employers should have a comprehensive plan regarding sexual harassment prevention in the workplace, which includes training for all employees. Under current California law, employers with five or more employees are required to provide two hours of sexual harassment prevention training to supervisors and managers and one hour of sexual harassment prevention training to non-supervisory employees. 

On September 29, 2020, the Governor signed Assembly Bill 1963 which amends Section 11165.7 of the Penal Code, relating to mandated reporters of child abuse.

The existing law, the Child Abuse, and Neglect Reporting Act, requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to report whenever they, in their professional capacity or within the scope of their

On September 28, 2020, the Governor signed, Assembly Bill 3369 (“AB 3369”), which changes obligations of harassment prevention training for minors working in the entertainment industry and their guardians. This bill compliments recently signed Assembly Bill 3175. Before the issuance of an entertainment work permit to a minor, existing law requires the parent or

In 2018, California law extended anti-harassment training requirements to employers with 5 employees or more and mandated that non-supervisors also receive such training, in addition to supervisors. The original deadline for completion of that training was January 1, 2020.  Current California law requires employers with 5 or more employees to provide one (1) hour of

February is the month where romance blossoms – which means it is a great time for employers to review their policies regarding employee fraternization and intracompany relationships.

How does an employer go about regulating romantic relationships between employees? It can be tricky. When creating workplace policies, employers should keep Labor Code section 96(k) in mind.

On August 30, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 778, which amends Section 12950.1 of the California Government Code. SB 778 extends California employers’ obligation from January 1, 2020 to January 1, 2021, to comply with sexual harassment trainings as outlined under California Government Code section 12950.1.

Please recall, per Govt. Code section

California employment law is changing once again.  By January 1, 2020, an employer having five or more employees will be required to provide at least one hour of sexual harassment training to all of its employees, once every two years. The training will be required to start within six months of the employee’s assumption of